Attorney: Council not required to complete annual ethics training

Nate Monroe

Friday

Nov 22, 2013 at 6:10 PM

For the past 14 years, Jacksonville has been ahead of the good-government curve by requiring its public officials to take a mandatory ethics training course after each election cycle, says Carla Miller, director of the city's Office of Ethics, Compliance and Oversight.

But now that a new state law has taken the city's idea a step further - mandating that many elected officials across Florida take four hours of ethics and Sunshine Law training every year - Jacksonville finds itself uniquely out of step.

City Council members are not required to follow the state law, according to the city's Office of General Counsel, because the wording of the statute does not account for Jacksonville's consolidated city-county government.

The state law applies to "constitutional officers," which include tax collectors, property appraisers, supervisors of elections, clerks of the circuit court, school board members, superintendents and county commissioners. Although the Jacksonville council holds power similar to that of a commissioner under the consolidated government, there is no reference to city councils in the statute.

Despite the quirk, the Office of General Counsel says council members shouldn't necessarily ignore the law.

"Even though the statute does not appear to technically include City Council members, this does not mean that council members should not attend sessions to meet these requirements," Stephen Durden, an assistant general counsel wrote to council members in an email Wednesday. "One of the greatest risks for any elected official is unknowingly violating the ethics laws of the state."

Indeed, most council members as well as Mayor Alvin Brown, his top administration officials, Public Defender Matt Shirk and Supervisor of Elections Jerry Holland attended a Friday ethics and Sunshine Law training session Miller's office organized.

"Clearly [the Legislature] wanted every county to have the mandatory four hours of training," she said. "I don't think it was ever their intent to say we only wanted to do 66 counties and leave Duval out. That couldn't possibly have been their intent."

The general counsel's office also found that the mayor is not required to attend such sessions.

Miller said the yearly training keeps the information fresh in the minds of elected leaders and that "having uniformity across all the counties is excellent."

Several council members have already completed the four hours of training this year or plan to do so. For example, council members Lori Boyer and Greg Anderson completed four hours of training through outside programs.

Councilman Richard Clark, who did not attend Friday's session, requested the legal opinion from the general counsel's office on the state law, saying he wanted to be sure of the "rules by which we needed to play."

"They told me I didn't need to go, so I didn't go," he said.

He said the system Jacksonville has in place now works well to educate officials about the law and that Miller does a "fantastic job" updating council members when there have been changes to the ethics or Sunshine laws.

"You need to know about the rules by which we play, and you certainly need to know the ins and outs," he said.

Nate Monroe: (904) 359-4289

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